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Sign up to receive the latest updates about Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure: vmware.com/partners/global-alliances/microsoft.html.

Since we announced our vision for VMware Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure in May, we received tremendous interest from prospective customers. At VMworld 2017 U.S., attendees will have the opportunity to learn more and view a demonstration of the solution during several sessions.

What Customers Are Saying about Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure

Our vision for this solution is to enable organizations like yours to pair existing Microsoft Azure infrastructure with the intuitive Horizon Cloud control plane, to create a secure, comprehensive cloud-hosted solution for delivering virtualized Windows applications and session desktops.

Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure is designed to help organizations transform Windows applications into a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model. This helps IT teams eliminate the burden of managing physical infrastructure and move to SaaS as part of your journey to a unified digital workspace.

We certainly think that the time has come for a powerful solution like this—and so do many of our current beta customers:

After trying the beta version of the solution, a technical architect at a large U.S. pharmacy chain exploring desktop virtualization expressed that VMware Cloud and Microsoft Azure working together is a match made in the cloud.

A solutions architect for a healthcare company looking to migrate from on-premises desktops to cloud desktops excitedly expressed that Horizon Cloud is the way to go.

&#rsquo;Being able to quickly provision, purchase and deploy full Windows desktops from the cloud without the tedious management of physical infrastructure is very appealing and our organization can benefit from this service as we move our data and apps to the cloud. Microsoft and VMware are two proven companies in the industry and we have had a very positive experience so far as beta participants.&#rdquo;

If you want to see this in action, check out our sessions at VMworld 2017 U.S., where we will give a demonstration of Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure.

Horizon Cloud Service on Microsoft Azure at VMworld U.S.

In our “Learn More about Horizon Cloud Service on Microsoft Azure” session, you will learn how you can combine the benefits of remote desktops and applications as-a-service from VMware and the flexibility to choose a public, consumption-based IaaS like Microsoft Azure, making it easier and more cost-effective to deploy and scale your digital workspace.

Click to add to your VMworld U.S. schedule.

Goodbye Legacy VDI. Hello Dynamic VDI for the Digital Workspace. [ADV3156SU]A Modern Approach to Planning, Building, Running and Securing Virtual Desktops and Apps as Part of Your Customized Digital Workspace. Join Shankar Iyer, SVP and GM of Desktop Products at VMware, and special guests to find out how VMware brings dynamic VDI and your end-to-end digital workspace to life.

Click to add to your VMworld U.S. schedule.

Learn More about Horizon Cloud Service at VMworld

We also have a number of sessions on the Horizon Cloud service where you can learn about our different deployment options and how to integrate this within your existing infrastructure.

Understand the different deployment options with Horizon Cloud, the technical requirements of each, and which deployment models best suit your organization

Click to add to your VMworld U.S. schedule.

Horizon Cloud Service: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know [ADV1596BU]

This deep dive into Horizon Cloud Service and give you a behind-the-scenes look at the architecture and best practices for integrating Horizon Cloud Service virtual desktops and apps into your existing infrastructure.

Click to add to your VMworld U.S. schedule.

Because you liked this blog:

Get Ready for Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure

Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure: It Just Keeps Getting Better

VMware and Microsoft Alliances Website

The post VMware Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure: Learn More at VMworld 2017 U.S. appeared first on VMware End-User Computing Blog.

Earlier this year, we introduced our Just-in-Time Management Platform(JMP—we pronounce it “jump”) to blow apart the desktop status quo. It&#rsquo;s evolved into something truly special that will change the way you provision desktops.

Tuesday, 5 p.m., at VMworld U.S.is your first chance to see this game-changing technology. There&#rsquo;ll be beer, cake references and the unstoppable Harry Labana (@harrylabana), vice president of management services and strategy for VMware End-User Computing (EUC).

VMworld 2017 Breakout Session:

“Modernize Management with JMP Technologies in VMware Horizon & Take a Look at Where We Are Headed”

Add ADV1608BU via VMworld U.S. schedule builder.

Too Complex. Too Slow. Too Many Breakpoints.

Most of you use a static desktop provisioning model that makes it difficult for you to:

Deliver workspaces quickly and efficiently to all users and endpoints.

Be agile to end-user requests.

Keep up with OS updates and patches (especially with Windows 10).

Manage application and OS dependencies.

Respond when something goes wrong.

Just-in-Time Delivery

JMP is our answer to those problems. If I were in marketing, I&#rsquo;d sell it to you as “Simple. Fast. Bulletproof.” But I&#rsquo;m not; I&#rsquo;m a product guy. So, instead I&#rsquo;ll tell you that I recognize that you&#rsquo;re currently working too hard, fighting with yesterday&#rsquo;s provisioning tools and struggling with infrastructure that&#rsquo;s beyond its sell-by date. And I want to help.

In a JMP-managed world, you define the desktop workspace that your users want, but leave the building of it to our automation engine. JMP offers a single integrated console that leverages VMware Instant Clone Technology, VMware App Volumes and VMware User Environment Manager to deliver tailored workspaces built from a common gold image.

User-Centric Automation

You identify your users (individuals and groups), tag their desired attributes (policies, apps, infrastructure, etc.) and press go. The JMP engine then automates the creation of bespoke desktops that exactly meet your users&#rsquo; needs. On the device they want.

It&#rsquo;s as simple as it gets.

It gives you more time, flexibility and, oddly, control.

Too Complex. Too Slow. Too Many Breakpoints. Solved.

Going back to how we started this blog, JMP&#rsquo;s dynamic engine gives makes it easy for you to:

Deliver workspaces quickly and efficiently to all users and endpoints.

Be agile to end-user requests.

Keep up with OS updates and patches.

Manage application and OS dependencies.

Respond when something goes wrong.

Moving from a static to an automated management model gives you numerous benefits. Not least amongst them is the fact that you only consume resources when your users call upon them. No more pre-provisioning. No more downtime for patching. Just-in-time delivery across your entire desktop estate.

Cloud Ready

With JMP automating the actual desktop building, simply changing the target environment for your users can move someone from an on-prem environment to a hybrid or cloud based one. You now have a solution that leverages the infrastructure you&#rsquo;ve built, to deliver the desktops your CTO told you to prepare for.

See for Yourself

We like to say that we&#rsquo;re making managing virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) a piece of cake. Everyone likes cake, right? Join Harry and I at VMworld, and get a sneak peek at the future of JMP—we&#rsquo;ll give you beer and maybe even cake. Possibly even a copy of Fusion 10. You should be there.

The post JMP Is Here! See It Live at VMworld appeared first on VMware End-User Computing Blog.

We’ve announced some pretty big updates to our flagship desktop hypervisor product lines, VMware Fusion and VMware Workstation. Our latest updates bring a variety of new features for IT pros, developers, businesses and home users.

Workstation 14 Pro & Player

Our Workstation product line, which includes Workstation Pro and Workstation Player, supports the latest and greatest from Microsoft, including the Windows 10 Fall Creators update and the fall updates for Server 2016, as well as updated Linux support for Ubuntu 17.04 and b. We also now support Microsoft Virtualization Based Security features Credential Guard and b, bringing new levels of enterprise security to our virtual desktop platform.

Workstation Pro also has new features for interacting with vSphere, including a streamlined walkthrough for effortlessly deploying the vCenter Server Appliance and new Host Power operations for remote vSphere/ESXi hosts.

Fusion 10 & Fusion 10 Pro

There are so many new features with our Fusion updates that it is hard to decide where to begin.

Building on the same VMware virtual hardware platform of the Workstation product line, Fusion 10 will also support Windows 10 and Server 2016 fall updates, as well as updated Linux support. Fusion, of course, will also support macOS 10.13 as both a host and guest, plus a long list of user interface updates, including Touch Bar support, to make things feel more modern and be more informative.

Fusion also has a brand new graphics engine that leverages Apple’s Metal technology. Fusion now uses Metal to draw VM/guest graphics like Windows DirectX 10 and Windows + Linux OpenGL 3.3, making performance smoother with better battery life and more accurate rendering.

Fusion 10 Pro has a number of unique updates as well, including innovation around vSphere integration, virtual networking and a brand new RESTful API.

For vSphere, Fusion now support the import of the vCenter Server Appliance, allowing users to effortlessly deploy vSphere in a sandbox lab inside Fusion. For vSphere admins, Fusion Pro also adds new ESXi Host Power operations, so users can power cycle hosts and toggle Maintenance Mode.

Fusion Pro’s all new REST-based API opens the door for integration. Use the HTTP/S based API to remotely and programmatically control Fusion with over 20 controls available, including VM creation, power, snapshots, host networking, VM networking and IP management, cloning and more. Developers can now use this secure API to integrate Fusion into a modern, continuous delivery/deploy iterative pipeline. Operations teams can design workflows to automatically provision macOS desktops for quality teams to remotely control.

With so many features, UI updates, virtual networking enhancements, platform updates, graphics updates and a brand new API to control it all, we think this might just be the biggest release of Fusion to date.

Heading to VMworld next week? Click here to add &#rsquo;What&#rsquo;s New with VMware Fusion, Workstation and Horizon Flex&#rdquo; to your schedule and dive into the latest Workstation and Fusion updates.

Because you liked this blog:

Announcing VMware Workstation 14

Announcing VMware Fusion 10 & Fusion 10 Pro

The post New Innovations in VMware Workstation & VMware Fusion Updates appeared first on VMware End-User Computing Blog.

We’ve announced some pretty big updates to our flagship desktop hypervisor product lines, VMware Fusion and VMware Workstation. Our latest updates bring a variety of new features for IT pros, developers, businesses and home users.

Workstation 14 Pro & Player

Our Workstation product line, which includes Workstation Pro and Workstation Player, supports the latest and greatest from Microsoft, including the Windows 10 Fall Creators update and the fall updates for Server 2016, as well as updated Linux support for Ubuntu 17.04 and b. We also now support Microsoft Virtualization Based Security features Credential Guard and b, bringing new levels of enterprise security to our virtual desktop platform.

Workstation Pro also has new features for interacting with vSphere, including a streamlined walkthrough for effortlessly deploying the vCenter Server Appliance and new Host Power operations for remote vSphere/ESXi hosts.

Fusion 10 & Fusion 10 Pro

There are so many new features with our Fusion updates that it is hard to decide where to begin.

Building on the same VMware virtual hardware platform of the Workstation product line, Fusion 10 will also support Windows 10 and Server 2016 fall updates, as well as updated Linux support. Fusion, of course, will also support macOS 10.13 as both a host and guest, plus a long list of user interface updates, including Touch Bar support, to make things feel more modern and be more informative.

Fusion also has a brand new graphics engine that leverages Apple’s Metal technology. Fusion now uses Metal to draw VM/guest graphics like Windows DirectX 10 and Windows + Linux OpenGL 3.3, making performance smoother with better battery life and more accurate rendering.

Fusion 10 Pro has a number of unique updates as well, including innovation around vSphere integration, virtual networking and a brand new RESTful API.

For vSphere, Fusion now support the import of the vCenter Server Appliance, allowing users to effortlessly deploy vSphere in a sandbox lab inside Fusion. For vSphere admins, Fusion Pro also adds new ESXi Host Power operations, so users can power cycle hosts and toggle Maintenance Mode.

Fusion Pro’s all new REST-based API opens the door for integration. Use the HTTP/S based API to remotely and programmatically control Fusion with over 20 controls available, including VM creation, power, snapshots, host networking, VM networking and IP management, cloning and more. Developers can now use this secure API to integrate Fusion into a modern, continuous delivery/deploy iterative pipeline. Operations teams can design workflows to automatically provision macOS desktops for quality teams to remotely control.

With so many features, UI updates, virtual networking enhancements, platform updates, graphics updates and a brand new API to control it all, we think this might just be the biggest release of Fusion to date.

Heading to VMworld next week? Click here to add &#rsquo;What&#rsquo;s New with VMware Fusion, Workstation and Horizon Flex&#rdquo; to your schedule and dive into the latest Workstation and Fusion updates.

Because you liked this blog:

Announcing VMware Workstation 14

Announcing VMware Fusion 10 & Fusion 10 Pro

The post New Innovations in VMware Workstation & VMware Fusion Updates appeared first on VMware End-User Computing Blog.

VMware Workspace ONE integrates with VMware Horizon Cloud to provide a simple and secure enterprise platform that allows end users to access their applications, data and services from any device, anywhere. Both platforms were built to integrate with each other, which provides a single user interface (UI) through the Workspace ONE enterprise catalog, to deliver applications to end users.

About Horizon Cloud

Horizon Cloud enables the delivery of cloud-hosted or on-premises virtual desktops and applications. With Horizon Cloud, you can leverage a cloud-based management plane and even infrastructure, instead of deploying an entire infrastructure to support VDI desktops and RDS applications traditionally. Your IT organization can focus on delivering applications and desktops, instead of spending time maintaining the infrastructure.

Benefits of Integration

The integration of Workspace ONE and Horizon Cloud provides a number of benefits:

Single Sign-On

One of the primary advantages that Workspace ONE and Horizon Cloud provide is secure, single sign-on (SSO) to both desktops and applications. This provides simplicity and ease of access while maintaining security. Users can utilize either the Workspace ONE web-based portal from any HTML 5 web browser or the Workspace ONE mobile application. And when used with an iOS-based device, users can utilize touch ID for SSO.

In addition, you can utilize step-up authentication, which allows additional multi-factor authentication beyond the initial authentication into Workspace ONE when accessing a desktop or application. This increases the security by requiring two-factor authentication to access a specific desktop or application, even if you don&#rsquo;t require it to access Workspace ONE.

Three Integration Options

Both Horizon Cloud and Workspace ONE have a cloud hosted option and an on-premises option. You can integrate the Horizon Cloud options with the Workspace ONE options in the following configurations:

Figure 2: Possible Integration Configuration Options

Although the two types of deployment have unique architecture requirements, both require an on-premises component. The on-premises component can be a virtual appliance or a Windows server, based on the type of deployment. For more information on the different deployments and their architecture, see VMware Workspace ONE Documentation.

The following Figure 4 illustrates the integration option for Horizon Cloud with Hosted Infrastructure and Workspace ONE Cloud. The VMware Identity Manager Connector (a) is deployed on-premises in your data center. This integrates with your Active Directory and synchronizes the resources between Horizon Cloud and Workspace ONE, along with desktop and application entitlements. This synchronization between the VMware Identity Manger Connector and Horizon Cloud occurs over the VPN or Direct Connect (b), which connects your data center to your Horizon Cloud tenant (c). The VMware Identity Manager Connector then synchronizes the resources and entitlements to the VMware Identity Manager (IDM) Cloud service (d).

Integration 2: Horizon Cloud On Premises and Workspace ONE On Premises

Horizon Cloud with On-Premises Infrastructure supports both the on-premises and cloud versions of Workspace ONE.

Figure 5: Integration 2: Horizon Cloud On-Premises and on-premises version of Workspace ONE

You can use Horizon Cloud with On-Premises Infrastructure to run desktops and applications in their data center using Hyper Converged Infrastructure (HCI) Appliances, but with abut with a cloud base control plane.

Figure 6 illustrates the integration option for Horizon Cloud On-Premises Infrastructure and on-premises version of Workspace ONE. VMware Identity Manager (a) is deployed as a virtual appliance in your data center. This provides integration with your Active Directory (b) and also performs the synchronization of the resources between Horizon Cloud and Workspace ONE (c), along with desktop entitlements.

Figure 6: Integration 2: Horizon Cloud On-Premises and on-premises version of Workspace ONE

Integration 3: Horizon Cloud On Premises and Workspace ONE Cloud

Horizon Cloud with On-Premises Infrastructure supports both the on-premises version of Workspace ONE and Workspace ONE Cloud.

For Workspace ONE Cloud, the VMware Identity Manager Connector (a) is deployed on-premises in your data center (b). This provides integration with your Active Directory and also performs the synchronization (c) of the resources between Horizon Cloud and Workspace ONE, along with desktop entitlements. The VMware Identity Manager Connector then synchronizes the resources and entitlements to the IDM Cloud service (d).

Tips on How to Integrate

To integrate Horizon Cloud with Workspace ONE, you deploy VMware Identity Manager or VMware Identity Manager Connector on-premises with one of the Horizon Cloud Service options described earlier. To start the integration, ensure that VMware Identity Manager or VMware Identity Manager Connector is configured and integrated with your Enterprise Directory.

For more information, see the VMware Horizon Cloud Service Documentation or VMware Workspace ONE Documentation.

Click Sync now to sync Desktop and App entitlements from the Horizon Cloud environment.

Configure SAML Authentication

You should configure a a SAML authentication between Horizon Cloud and VMware Identity Manager, the identity provider, to enable trust between the two. To establish trust, you first create a Federation Artifact for Horizon Cloud, then set up custom user ID mapping, and finally configure SAML authentication.

Create Federation Artifact for Horizon Cloud

To enable trust between Horizon Cloud and VMware Identity Manager, you create the Federation Artifact in the VMware Identity Manager Administration Console and add a SAML authentication in the Horizon Cloud Administration Console.

In the VMware Identity Manager Administration Console, click the arrow on the Catalog tab and select Settings.

In the left pane, select Horizon Cloud.

Enter the following information for your Horizon Cloud environment:

Click the Accept Certificate link next to the Tenant Appliance URLs.

Click Save.

After creating a federation artifact, set the custom User ID mapping.

Custom User ID Mapping

You can use custom User ID Mapping to customize the user ID that is used in the SAML response when users launch Horizon Cloud Desktops and Applications. You can resolve SSO launch failures that are caused by a mismatch of the user ID attribute between VMware Identity Manager and Horizon Cloud.

In the VMware Identity Manager Administration Console, click the arrow on the Catalog tab and select Settings.

Configure SAML Authentication in Horizon Cloud

In the VMware Identity Manager Administration Console, click the arrow on the Catalog tab and select Settings.

In the left pane, click SAML Metadata.

Click the Identity Provider (iDP) metadata link.

Make a note of the URL from the browser&#rsquo;s address bar, such as https://VMwareIdentityMangerFQDN/SAAS/API/1.0/GET/metadata/idp.xml

Log in to the Horizon Cloud Tenant.

Navigate to Settings > General Settings > Edit.

In the VMware Identity Manager section, enter the following required information:

Click Save.

Enforce User Authentication through Workspace ONE Portal

You can set Horizon Cloud to enforce end user authentication through the Workspace ONE portal, requiring SAML-based authentication.

Figure 13: Enforcing User Authentication

In the Administration Console, navigate to Settings > General Settings, and click Edit.

In the User Account Configuration section, make selections according to your organization’s needs.

Force Remote Users to vIDM – When set to Yes, users that are trying to access their desktops from locations outside of your corporate network must log in to their Workspace ONE portal and access desktops and applications from that portal.

Force Internal Users to vIDM – When set to Yes, users that are trying to access their desktops from locations within your corporate network must log in to their Workspace ONE portal and access desktops and applications from that portal.

Click Save to confirm the configuration to the system.

After you verify that user authentication is enforced, your users can launch desktops and applications securely from Workspace ONE.

Launch a Desktop or Application using Horizon Client or Supported Browser

Your end users can use either the Horizon Client or any supported HTML 5 browser to launch desktops and applications.

In the Workspace ONE portal, click Bookmarks

Double-click the desktop or application to launch.

To Wrap this up….

Step-by-step documentation on how to integrate Horizon Cloud with VMware Identity Manager can be found in the VMware Horizon Cloud Service Documentation and VMware Workspace ONE Documentation. If you want to try configuring the integration yourself, but do not have a Horizon Cloud or Workspace ONE environment yet, you are in luck. At VMworld, we are releasing a Hands-on-Labs for Horizon Cloud, which contains an entire module that walks you through the configuration of the integration. Make sure to check out HOL-1856-ADV-1 in the Hands-on-Labs at VMworld in Las Vegas!

The post Delivering a Seamless Digital Workspace Experience with Horizon Cloud appeared first on VMware End-User Computing Blog.

Exploring Part I of the *New* Digital Workspace Story Map

Getting the Digital Workspace Story Map Straight

Here at VMware, we have talked about the digital workspace story for years. But if you put 10 people in a room and ask them what a digital workspace is or how to get there, you will get at least 25 very interesting and very different answers.

The Journey to the Digital Workspace Story Map

Many of us technologists jump right into an architectural discussion or show off a cool demo focusing on self-service access. Others might point to an app catalog. Still others talk about a &#rsquo;virtual workspace,&#rdquo; where their virtual desktop is their &#rsquo;digital workspace.&#rdquo; Of course, they are all wrong and they are all right. This makes discussions about what it takes to create a digital workspace extremely tough.

Recently, a team across VMware—from product managers and marketers to engineers, designers and professional services architects—sat down with some talented artists and storytellers to create a digital workspace &#rsquo;story map.&#rdquo; The goal of the story map was to replace reams of fluffy whitepapers and never-ending slide decks (I get to say that since I am one of those marketing types who create them). We wanted to foster a richly visual dialog about the journey to the digital workspace. No products. No technology. Just the journey itself.

We took these ideas to some of our best customers and partners, and it was amazing to hear the excitement in their voices. They too struggled to articulate their own vision of the digital workspace to colleagues and management. We took their feedback and further refined the story map into the image we are proud to share with you today.

In some ways, I am loathe to annotate the story. Like the MAD magazine cartoons some of us grew up with (sorry if that reference is beyond your years … wait, no, I&#rsquo;m not…) the discovery and the details are half the fun. If you also enjoy a good puzzle, STOP NOW! Take a look at this section of the story map yourself and draw your own conclusions. When you&#rsquo;re ready to proceed, READ ON!

Part 1 of the Digital Workspace Story: Is Standardization IT&#rsquo;s Friend or Foe—or Both?

Standardization is in the DNA of probably anyone in IT, learned from process-oriented organizations. The concept of interchangeable parts popularized by Eli Whitney in the production of guns and cotton gins allowed manufacturers to better specialize labor, reduce production costs and permit better serviceability of increasingly complex machines. It is no surprise that we want to apply the same logic to IT by supplying modern tools of production (namely apps and devices) to today&#rsquo;s workforce.

By waging war on variables, IT is better able to achieve economies of scale.

If an organization standardizes on laptops, three standards are better than five.

If an organization is looking at office productivity apps, one is better than three.

And on and on from there.

From a serviceability perspective, I get it. Why reimage a laptop over the network if I can pop the top, plug a fresh SSD into the slot that I just took off a drive burner and then button it back up?

In the digital workspace story map, we show this idea of standardization with the Beetles and station wagons clogged on the packed highway. Every user should look like either a Beetle or a station wagon; depending on their job role, they get the keys to their car. It might not be the car they would choose, but it&#rsquo;s reliable—or at least IT will be there to fix it with their stash of backup parts.

This does not mean standards are unimportant. It just means the standards we need to care about in 2017 changed. Instead of standardizing on apps and devices or even web browsers, we standardize on APIs and service level agreements (SLAs), which are the new production frameworks for the mobile-cloud world.

Regardless of the standards, culture and policies of nearly every company, executives, line-of-business leaders and rogue-but-well-meaning employees do not want a Beetle or a station wagon. They want different apps and different devices. No matter how much IT wants to support these users, their production line is not equipped, ultimately leading to shadow IT.

Keeping with the transportation theme, it is no accident that IT is out fixing the &#rsquo;IT budget&#rdquo; potholes in the road. Under the weight of our legacy systems and continued focus on devices as assets, an increasing portion of our shrinking budgets continue to be spent on keeping the road open and drivable.

We believe the status quo is unsustainable.

Application growth, device advancements driven by consumer technologies and the ever-increasing expectations of both users and line-of-business leaders will cause traffic jams an emergency pothole crew cannot clear. Like many modern transportation systems, building a bigger road or a new bridge is not enough. We must think differently about how to move people from one place to another … and where those people are going.

That sets the stage for where many of us our today. In the next blog, we will talk about the transition to a digital workspace, the IT initiatives laying the groundwork for next-generation infrastructure and how organizations can plan for transformative change.

See the Digital Workspace Vision for Yourself—Live & In Technicolor

Thinking about heading to VMworld? VMworld is now the leading-industry event for End-User Computing (EUC) with nearly 100 dedicated sessions and a must-see showcase keynote specifically about the digital workspace. If you have not registered yet, there is no time like the present! Click here to get started.

Click here to see the four EUC sessions all VMworld attendees should join.

Joining us in Barcelona? Here are the links to the top digital workspace content at VMworld Europe:

Digital workspace session catalog.

Digital workspace showcase keynote.

Hear first hand how leading companies empower the digital workspace for transformation during VMworld. Register for the EUC Showcase keynote to hear their stories, dive into brand new innovations and much more. Seats are going fast, so register today!

The post Is Standardization IT&#rsquo;s Friend or Foe—or Both? appeared first on VMware End-User Computing Blog.

Don&#rsquo;t you love it when a good thing just gets even better? Like when your smartphone can double as your SLR camera or your thermostat can also water the plants. We at VMware definitely do and recently worked our magic on our VMware Horizon® Cloud Service™.

Earlier this year, we announced the Horizon Cloud service. Horizon Cloud is a software service from VMware that allows customers to easily and cost-effectively deploy cloud-hosted or on-premises virtual desktops and apps to any device, anywhere. Now, as more and more organizations adopt a multi-cloud strategy to leverage &#rsquo;best-fit&#rdquo; cloud capabilities, avoid cloud vulnerability and optimize cost, they face new challenges of moving between clouds and inefficiencies of operating multiple solutions. Wouldn&#rsquo;t it be nice to have a desktop virtualization service that could also easily span clouds and enable a mix and match of public and private clouds based on business needs?

The Horizon Cloud team has been working hard on this, and we are delighted to offer a solution with Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure! Each is great separately, but together they are amazing. Horizon Cloud comes from the leader in desktop and app virtualization. Microsoft Azure is the fastest growing public cloud provider today, available in 38 regions across the globe, not to mention the natural choice for organizations relying on Windows-based applications and enterprise applications like Microsoft Office 365.

Upcoming Features for Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure

Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure allows you to bring your own, existing Microsoft Azure infrastructure capacity and pair it with the Horizon Cloud service. Here are some of the exciting features you can expect:

Application & Session Desktop Delivery

Ability to publish and manage RDS-hosted applications and desktops on Microsoft Azure while leveraging on-premises and cloud resources

Cloud control plane separate from the data path, avoiding unnecessary latency and maintaining business continuity

Unified Access Gateway deployed automatically in Microsoft Azure

Simple Offer

Remote published desktops and applications offered in one simple offer

Unified Access Gateway included in offer

VMware User Environment Manager included in offer

Over the last few months, we have been working with our customers and partners to shape the Horizon Cloud service and its capabilities. We also launched a private beta program to solicit feedback, and it has been great to see that our customers share our excitement.

&#rsquo;VMware and Microsoft Azure, a match made in the Cloud. The ability to deliver applications in the cloud will allow us to continue to stay flexible to deliver the services that our customers and partners expect.&#rdquo;—Technical Architect for store and corporate user computing in a large U.S. pharmacy chain looking for desktop virtualization

&#rsquo;I think Horizon Cloud is the way to go … Great evolution of moving in this direction.&#rdquo;—Solutions Architect for a healthcare company migrating from on-premises to the cloud

Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure Demo at VMworld

Now that you&#rsquo;ve&#rsquo; read this, you might be wondering how you can see this in action. Well, check out our session at VMworld 2017, where we will be giving a demonstration of Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure. You will learn how you can combine the benefits of remote desktops and applications as a service from VMware with the flexibility to choose a public, consumption-based IaaS like Microsoft Azure, making it easier and more cost-effective to deploy and scale your digital workspace.

At VMware, we believe that a digital workspace gives you the ultimate freedom to use any app on any device in any place. You should enjoy frictionless access to apps no matter where they reside, from legacy to RDSH and web-based apps, with single sign-on for simple access.

Attendees at our recent EUC Insights 2017 event did a great job of defining what a digital workspace means to them. VMware employees rely on digital workspaces every day—even when everything else goes wrong. Over the next few weeks, we will share stories of how some of our customers put digital workspaces into practice. These organizations are truly empowering people, from teachers to physicians to IT administrators, to succeed at digital transformation.

How Do VMware Customers Use Digital Workspaces?

Here are just a few of the use cases we are excited to talk about:

Mecklenburg County, N.C., is rolling out Windows 10 and Microsoft Office 365 in the cloud, with enterprise-grade security and simplified management.

Jefferson County, Colo., provides secure virtual desktops to its employees and for public computers that county residents use—with a non-persistent desktop, all data is erased when the session ends, keeping citizens&#rsquo; information secure.

Corona-Norco Unified School District (CNUSD) in California uses digital workspaces to deliver Windows 10 and the learning technology students and teachers need when they need it from any device, including bring-your-own-device (BYOD) mobility for maximum flexibility and choice. CNUSD also saves valuable funds that can be used for student services.

Stay Tuned!

Watch the EUC Blog in the coming weeks to learn more about how organizations like yours use solutions like VMware AirWatch, VMware Horizon and VMware Workspace ONE to empower their digital workspaces.

Want to get the latest digital workspace, mobility, desktop virtualization and enterprise apps news right in your inbox? Join our Friday “Top EUC News” club at the top of your screen.

Hear first hand how leading companies empower the digital workspace for transformation during VMworld. Register for the EUC Showcase keynote to hear their stories, dive into brand new innovations and much more. Seats are going fast, so register today!

The post Empower the Digital Workspace: The VMware Customer Perspective appeared first on VMware End-User Computing Blog.

We&#rsquo;re less than one month away from VMworld. And with thousands already registered for what promises to be the biggest end-user computing (EUC) event of the year, space is nearly gone in our top sessions.

From an action-packed EUC spotlight keynote to immersive hands-on labs, VMworld promises to be the one EUC event you can&#rsquo;t afford to miss. Join us at VMworld. Get started here.

We have nearly 100 sessions dedicated to all things digital workspace, virtual desktops, enterprise apps, mobility, Windows 10, cloud and security. Our technical experts are ready to deliver immersive demo and lab experiences that will make you the hands-down expert in your company. Finally, VMware&#rsquo;s leadership team is unveiling major innovations and partner integrations for our industry-leading products: VMware Horizon, VMware Workspace ONE, VMware AirWatch, VMware App Volumes and so many more.

Already joining us? Here are the top 10 most popular EUC sessions at VMworld you cannot afford to miss:

You cannot miss this spotlight keynote. Seriously, put it on your agenda ASAP! The who&#rsquo;s who in EUC will be on stage to share breaking product news, demo our powerful new technologies and feature the customers breaking the EUC mold at the biggest brands in the world.

On VMworld&#rsquo;s largest stage, you will hear from customers, partners and innovators at VMware who are building on intelligence to transform the way their organizations securely empower the workforce for a better user experience.

Forward-thinking IT leaders will share how they are creating digital workspace strategies to harness the power of new apps, devices and connected things to:

Transform business processes;

Drive engagement; and

Boost productivity for every employee.

Finally, hear breaking product news—and see these groundbreaking innovations in action—before we announce it to the rest of the world.

Meeting user expectations for anywhere, anytime, any-device access is becoming increasingly complex for organizations that continue to live in silos of desktop, mobile, and every other kind of endpoint.

Join Noah Wasmer, Senior Vice President of Mobile Products at VMware, as he shares his perspective on the evolution of endpoint management into a device-agnostic platform enabling a smarter and more secure workspace for the business.

We turn the spotlight on our customers themselves as they share their journeys to radically transform PC management, unify management across desktop to the Internet of things and enable transformative experiences for users and IT.

3. Spotlight Session: Goodbye, VDI 1.0. Hello, VDI 2.0.

Speaker:

Shankar Iyer, SVP and GM Desktop Products, VMware

Add to your agenda:

VMworld U.S. session ADV3156SU

VMworld Europe session ADV3156SE

The digital workspace is about providing intuitive and secure access to all apps, including mobile, web, software-as-a-service and Windows apps. But supporting these Windows apps has evolved beyond VDI 1.0. IT organizations are cobbling together a basic solution to provision and broker access. Today, customers need a converged approach that:

Takes advantage of consolidated policy and management for contextual access.

We are in the age of the digital workspace. Your users are clamoring for access to their data and apps from any device, including from personal devices. Your business expects IT to maintain security and eliminate the leakage of any sensitive information. How do you maintain this balance between end-user productivity and security? We believe the industry needs to evolve to focus on controlling access based on a new access control layer.

In this Spotlight Session, the VMware leadership team will discuss how Workspace ONE is built on a powerful access control layer that is dynamic, based on context. This access control layer in Workspace ONE transforms how organizations implement access control without compromising the end-user experience.

This session will give technical details and demos of the latest features and advancements of Horizon 7, including Instant Clones for RDSHs, virtual graphic processing unit (vGPU) support for Instant Clones, anonymous login and more.

6. Building a Multi-Cloud Strategy with Horizon Cloud Service

Speakers:

Shikha Mittal, Director of Product Management, VMware (VMworld U.S.)

Bharath Rangarajan, VP of Product Marketing, VMware (VMworld Europe)

Peter Brown, Director of R&D, VMware

Add to your agenda:

VMworld U.S. session ADV1604BU

VMworld Europe session ADV1604BE

Organizations are going from asking whether cloud is appropriate to adopting multiple clouds at the same time. They are relying on services from a mixture of private and public clouds depending on business needs and independent cloud strengths.

In this session, we will preview the latest addition to the service where you can now deliver Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure. You will learn how you can combine the benefits of remote desktops and applications as-a-service from VMware and the flexibility to choose a public, consumption-based IaaS like Azure, making it easier and more cost-effective to deploy and scale your digital workspace.

Follow the footsteps of VMware&#rsquo;s R&D, IT and field CTO ambassadors from the Professional Services (PS) organization to get real-life insight into how mobility and identity use cases can be successfully deployed and scaled on the hybrid cloud via Workspace ONE.

The VMware PS design approach covers the planning, designing, deployment, and measurement process for successful IT and business outcomes. This session is relevant to a variety of industry verticals, including but not limited to financial, healthcare, education, point-of-sale, services, high-tech, manufacturing, hospitality and others.

According to Microsoft, more than 96% of customers are in a POC for Windows 10, but many struggle with how to move from POC to production. In this session, you will hear from customers who have successfully migrated to Windows 10 and support a variety of use cases, including branch office, remote worker, and line-of-business scenarios.

The customer panel will discuss challenges and pitfalls to avoid in migrating to Windows 10, the benefits of moving to the new OS and the value created from migrating to a modern management approach with AirWatch.

9. Ask the Experts: How to Enable Secure Access from Personal/BYO Devices & All Types of Users with Workspace ONE

Speakers:

Vikas Jain, Director, Product Management, Workspace ONE, VMware

Prab Kalra, Director, Technical Marketing, VMware

Add to your agenda:

VMworld U.S. session SAAM1684GU

More than ever before, you have a broad range of device types and users that want to access corporate resources. This includes employees, contractors, and contingent staff who need access, and oftentimes they want access from personal/BYO devices. How do you enable secure access without impacting end-user productivity?

This group discussion will feature experts who will walk you through security and access capabilities in Workspace ONE to ensure IT has the tools they need to protect corporate resources, regardless of the type of user or device.

Traditional approaches to Windows management are expensive, complex for IT organizations, and restrictive for users. Windows 10 changes what’s possible for users, IT departments and businesses, including how devices can be managed with a modern mobile device management APIs, how updates occur and more.

We will provide a technical deep dive into some of the many changes and enhancements that have been added to Windows 10, such as enrollment, application delivery and patch management. In addition, we will compare traditional PC lifecycle management solutions to managing a Windows 10 computer using AirWatch and the resulting lower costs, greater security and improved end-user experience.

The digital workspace redefines the user experience as centered around the person, rather than the things they use. It enables a fundamental transformation of the relationship between IT and users, from push-based control to demand-based choice. Access to corporate applications and data can be combined seamlessly with the user&#rsquo;s personal environment, without compromise to enterprise security or user privacy. Successful deployments deliver improved employee engagement and a significant return on investment.

In this session, we share lessons learned from our customers and offer a firsthand look at VMware&#rsquo;s own journey to the digital workspace.

Be the expert on bleeding edge of the hottest products in the industry: VMware Workspace ONE, VMware AirWatch, VMware Horizon, VMware Identity Manager, VMware App Volumes, VMware NSX and so many more.

For mobility pros who attended AirWatch Connect in previous years, we can’t stress this enough: You cannot miss VMworld. It will be the biggest, most powerful, most connected mobility event of the year.

The post Sanjay Poonen Wants YOU to Join Him at VMworld 2017 appeared first on VMware End-User Computing Blog.